Barriers to Implementation of Environmental education in Secondary Schools in Molo, Nakuru County,Kenya
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Date
2019-05
Authors
Cheruiyot, Mutai Gilbert
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Environmental degradation is among the world’s major threats to existence of
humanity today. Policy meas ures have been put in place to curb degradation but the
menace has escalated at an alarming rate. Due to th is, Environmental Education as a
tool for environmental management and conservation cannot be overemphasized. The
importance of Environmental Educati on is well kn own globally among societies.
Environmental Education is gradually promoted as a sustainable tool in protection of
the natural environment. To raise environmental literacy level among Kenyans,
Environmental Education is taught using both inter disciplinary and multidisciplinary
approaches. However, research indicates that ef forts to effectively integrate
Environmental Education in secondary schools in Kenya have not born e fruits.
Arguments are rife that there are several barriers hindering succe ssful Environmental
Education implementation . The core objective of this study was t o investigate barriers
hindering successful Environmental Education implementation in Molo sub county in
Kenya. To achi eve this, the study examined the effect of teachers’ and students’
attitude, administrative support and curriculum design on Environmental Education
implementation. The main subjects consi dered in extraction the major Environmental
Education thematic areas in secondary school syllabi include d Biology, Chemis try,
Physics, Geography and Agriculture. The meth ods used to teach these subjects , the
preparedness of teachers to handle them in terms of training, availability of teaching
and learning resources was also investi gated. The target population was 16 secondar y
schools out of a total of 41 secondary schools i n Molo sub county selected
purposefully from the four wards of Molo, Elburgon, Marioshoni and Turi. The four
schools selected had similar characteristics. They were all public mixed day schools,
facing the same school based challenges. The study chose 4 schools from each ward.
The principals were asked to select a teacher each teaching Physics, Biology,
Geography, Chemistry and Agriculture to take part in filling the questionnaires. Two
students, a boy and g irl, were randomly selected from form one to four in each school.
A total of 128 students were involved in the study. The d escriptive survey design was
used as it came in handy in describi ng the existing conditions. Data was collected
using questionnaires , school environmental checklists and analysis of thematic areas
covered in the Kenyan secondary s chool syllabi of the selected Environmental
Education related subjects. Data was analysed using the Statistical Pa ckage for Social
Sciences version 16 compute r package. The findings of the study were presented in
tables. Correlation analysis to show the significance of the independent variables to
the dependent variables was carried out. Findings indicated a positive relationship
between independent and depende nt variables. Specifically, it was noted that there
was a positive correlation between teacher attitude, r (.45), student attitude, r (.53),
administration support, r (.62) and curriculum design, r (.58) and implementation of
Environmental Education . This implies that teacher attitude, student attitude,
administration support and curriculum design were barriers to implementation of
Environmental Education in public day secondary schools in Molo sub county. The
study recommended the strengthening and clarity of policy guidelines towards
Environmental Education and enhancement of mechanisms to enable administration
support.Training and empowerment of teachers in matters related to Environmental
Education was also recommended. Teachers were to come up with mechanisms to
change students’ attitude towards Environmental Education
Description
a Research Report Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science (Environmental Education) in the School of Environmental Studies of Kenyatta University May 2019